Signifying Nothing
Sam Gold's 'Macbeth' starring Daniel Craig provides a few great performances but fails to cut through its own smoke
Ian McKellen’s opening soliloquy in the reimagined Richard III film from 1995 starts in front of a microphone and ends in a urinal. When it was time to deliver the most famous line of all, “A horse! a horse! My kingdom for a horse!”, there wasn’t a horse to be found because it was set in an alternate timeline version of 1930’s England packed with automobiles. At that moment in the film, McKellen’s Richard is on the battlefield being chased away on his jeep which ultimately gets stuck in a massive hole in the road. As the opposing army approaches, King Richard is revving his engine till it can go no more when he finally cries out, “A horse! a horse! My kingdom for a horse!” During Wednesday evening’s performance of Sam Gold’s Broadway production of Macbeth, I kept thinking of McKellen’s Richard III because it still endures as a masterclass in the reimagining of a classic. Mr. Gold’s Macbeth will not.
The evening began with Michael Patrick Thornton serving as an almost master of ceremonies by introducing the play and cracking wise on the audience. He was very amusing (as he was throughout his fine performances that evening), but it was an odd way to begin such a bloody night of tragedy. It wouldn’t be the last odd choice of the evening. For starters, actors followed each other around with portable smoke machines dispensed arbitrarily on a mostly barren stage. The ensemble shouted “Boo!” and “Yay!” in short crisp reactions to the opening lines but it read more like an assistant director perfunctorily shouting lines for someone in rehearsal more so than an organic cheer. Macbeth murders Macduff’s family (as opposed to it being the hired assassin) and the show ends with all the actors seated against the wall having soup.
In general, the performances were strong. Banquo, played by Amber Gray in military fatigues, was noble and poised but it took until she later gestured to her own midsection upon hearing the witch’s prophecy of her offspring before it was clear she was portraying a female Banquo and not merely playing a male Banquo in a pants role (Macbeth’s lines were later changed to say “she” instead of “he” when referring to Banquo). Daniel Craig’s Macbeth was energetic and neurotic. Eschewing the stoic and brooding versions of the character commonly portrayed, Craig’s Macbeth was not afraid to be plaintive and cowardly. In one gut-busting moment of brilliance, Craig’s Macbeth interrupts his argument with his wife by walking straight into the visible stage wings, opening a refrigerator, and cracking open a beer. His moments of sheer dread and sorrow were particularly captivating. But one key moment of this, where Macbeth is haunted by Banquo’s ghost, was hurt by presenting a hooded and goofy ghost version of Banquo who literally popped out from under the table. It is a stirring moment in the text that was met with laughter from the audience. In what seemed to be a deliberate move, Craig delivered almost all of his monologues with his left hand in his pocket. Though hands are a theme in the play, the reasoning to hide his was unclear. Ruth Negga’s Lady Macbeth was vicious and cold and created a wonderful balance to the high-strung Craig. The transformation to madness was all the more jarring as she first presented a Lady Macbeth of total control only to crumble and scrub the floor frantically during her “Out damned spot!” monologue (a nice interpretative shift away from the traditional scrubbing of the hands). Grantham Coleman as Macduff was riveting. He skillfully matched his own natural cadence to Shakespeare’s text making his performance all the more relatable, and his cry upon hearing of the murder of his family was devastating. In another gender-swapped role, Asia Kate Dillon as Malcolm provided a charming and determined presence.
Though ensemble actors often play multiple roles, in Mr. Gold’s Macbeth, the actors didn’t change costumes which became particularly confusing — doubly so when key players such as Amber Grey (Banquo) came back as other characters. In another bizarre take, Paul Lazar’s transformation from the murdered King Duncan to the Porter was done in front of the audience in a fourth-wall breaking comedy routine involving a bloody fat suit and a can of Miller Lite.
Not unlike opera, reimagined and modernized Shakespeare helps to keep these legendary works fresh. The performers’ interpretations give new insight to lines so many of us have studied and memorized. Daniel Craig’s performance was wholly different than any Macbeth I’d ever seen. The entire production was wholly different than any Shakespeare I’d ever seen. But unlike Craig’s and Negga’s character choices, most of Sam Gold’s interpretations did not enrich the original text. Though most people going to see Macbeth on Broadway are likely familiar with the play, there are still those who are not and key plot points — such as the manifestation of Burnam wood coming to high Dunsinaine — were lost in the shuffle of alternative approaches to the action. I will always applaud radical attempts at reimagining the classical pillars of the arts, but the choices need to make sense with the text and add to the experience. Very often, they breathe new life into works like Ian McKellen’s Richard III. But in the case of Sam Gold’s Macbeth, most of the choices — as Macbeth might say — signified nothing.